Everyone Counts: Could "Participatory Budgeting" Change Democracy?
Josh Lerner
Abstract
The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce exceptional innovations to further democracy in the United States or around the world. The inaugural medal winner, the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), is an innovative not-for-profit organization that promotes “participatory budgeting,” an inclusive process that empowers community members to make informed decisions about public spending. More than 46,000 people in communities across the United States have decided how to spend $45 million through programs that PBP helpe ... More
The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce exceptional innovations to further democracy in the United States or around the world. The inaugural medal winner, the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), is an innovative not-for-profit organization that promotes “participatory budgeting,” an inclusive process that empowers community members to make informed decisions about public spending. More than 46,000 people in communities across the United States have decided how to spend $45 million through programs that PBP helped spark over the last five years. This book provides a concise history of the organization's origins and its vision, highlighting its real-world successes in fostering grassroots budgeting campaigns in such cities as New York, Boston, and Chicago. As more and more communities turn to participatory budgeting as a means of engaging citizens, prioritizing civic projects, and allocating local, state, and federal funding, this volume aims to offer guidance and inspiration to others who want to transform democracy in the United States and elsewhere.
Keywords:
innovations,
democracy,
Participatory Budgeting Project,
public spending,
budgeting campaigns,
state funding,
federal funding,
United States
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801456657 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801456657.001.0001 |
